Fall-rope carrier



Oct. 13,1925

' J. T.HORTON FALL ROPE CARRIER m1, 4 13 Mi WFM a J 00 w 7 l '1 F I Km Inventof John .T. Horton *fiiis Attorney.

latented Oct. 13, 1925.

UNITED STATES JOHN T. HORTON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

FALL-ROPE CARRIER.

Application filed January 24, 1922. Serial No. 531,347.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN T. l-lon'roN, a citizen of the United States and a resident of New York, borough of ldrooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful 1mprovements in Fall-Rope Carriers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fall rope carriers for cableways, and its object is to provide means for supporting the operating ropes of overhead cableways. Preferred and modified forms of the device are shown in the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure l-is a side elevation of the fall rope carrier in its preferred form.

Fig. 2 is a top'plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is an end view, partially in section,

taken on line-3+3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a partial side elevation of a modification of the'fall rope carrier.

Fig.5 is a fragmental top plan view of the same.

As the purpose of fall rope carriers is generally understood, distant associated parts of a cableway have not been illustrated in connection with the present device. My improved device diifers from those of the prior art in simplicity and effective operation.

Referrin to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing, 10 and 11 esignate, respectively, front and rear carrier frame plates, made of commercial flat bars, fixed at the ends to spacing blocks 12 and 13.

Secured to the outside, respectively, of said plates, midway the length thereof and extending downwardly, is a pair of flat bars or arms 14 and 15, the latter being ofi'set near its upper end 16.

Two cable traverse wheels 18 and 19 are revolubly mounted, respectively, on transverse shafts 20, 20, fixed and supported be carrier by entering the groove 26, passing 7 tween frame plates 10 and 11, and secured therein by nuts 21. Said wheels are carried on supporting cable 22, the under side of which may engage the face of cable tensioning wheel 23, revolubly mounted on shaft 24 fixed and supported between arms 14, 15, and secured therein by nuts 25.

Mounted coaxially with and fixed to cable traverse or traction line wheels 18, 19, respectively, are drive wheels 26 and 27, each having two peripheral grooves, as 26*, 26", and 27 27 respectively, receptive of traction line cable 28. Said cable engages the,

over wheel 26 to engage groove 2" in wheel 27, around which it is rove, returning to wheel groove 26, wrapped thereabout, and finally guided by groove 27 outwardly of the carrier, thereby forming a bight in the traction line surrounding and in operative relation to said drive wheels 26 and 27 from which said traction line leads to a rotatable wheel fixed at a remote point, but not shown.

Rotatably mounted between side arms 14, 15 are grooved wheels 29, 30, respectively upper and lower. The return run 28 of traction cable 28 is supported in the groove ofwheel 29, and is again carried to a distant wheel from which it returns as a hoisting or fall rope 28, supported by grooved wheel 30. I I

Interposed between wheels 29, 30, is idler roll 31, revolubly mounted between arms 14, 15, and functioning to prevent the cable from accidental displacement with respect to the wheel groove.

As shown in the drawing, drive wheels 26, 27 are approximately one third less in diameter than the traverse wheels 18, 19. Assuming this ratio of difference, it is apparent that for each foot of cable released from the winding drum, the fall carrier will be moved along the supporting cable eighteen inches. I

It will also be apparent that other ratios of cable traverse may be attained by increasing the diameters of the wheels 26, 27, or by decreasing the diameter of the traverse wheels 18, 19. Should thelatter method be employed, tension wheel 23 must be either increased in diameter or raised vertically in bars 14, 15, to maintain proper tension between supporting cable 22 and wheels 18, 19.

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate a modification of the device which comprises a carrier frame having front and rear plates 40, 41, connected at the ends by spacing blocks 42. Midway of the plates are two depending arms 43, 44, rear arm 43 being a straight flat plate and front arm 44 having an ofiset at the upper end, similar to arm 15 of Fig. 3.

Traverse wheels 45, 46 are revolubly mounted between the side plates 40, 41, and spur gears 47 48 are rigidly secured to the sides of said wheels, respectively, said gears being in mesh with pinions 49, 50, respectively, each fixed to a spindle rotatable in front frame plate 40.

Drive wheels 51, 52, each having two ca;

III

ble gripping grooves, as 51* and 51 of wheel 51, are secured to the extending outer ends of said spindles, respectively.

The carrier is supported by said wheels 45, 4:6, engaging supporting cable '53, and operated by traction line cable 54-, having a bight engaging the grooves of and surrounding wheels 51 and 52, in the manner previ;

ously described.

A rotatable wheel ispositioned to distort the lay andgive tension to the supporting cable 53, and below the wheel 55, are grooved wheels supporting the return run of traction cable 54 the construction being as previously described, but not shown.

Referring to Fig. 5, and assuming pinion i9 to be one half the diameter of wheel 51 and that wheel 4-5 is approximately the diameter ofgear t'Z, conditions are zpresented in which, for each 'foot of cabledelivered to the carrier from the winding drum, the carrier will be moved along the cable six inches.

It is also apparent that other ratios between the carrier and driving cable maybe obtained by changing the gear ratios;,or by increasing or decreasing the diameters of wheels 45, 46, and 5 1, 52; or both methods may be employed to attain the desired results.

said traverse I claim;

1. A fall rope carrier including in combi nation two supporting cable traverse wheels rotatably mounted in fixed relation to each other for engaging the upper side of a supporting cable, a tension wheel for engaging the under side of the supporting cable between the points of engagement of said traverse Wheels, two traction line wheels one of which is in operative relation to one of wheels, and a traction line forming a high-t surrounding said two tracion line wheels and in operative relation thereto.

:2. A tall rope carrier including in combination two supportingcable traverse wheels rotatably mounted in fixed relation to each other for engaging the upper side of a supporting cable, a tension wheel for engaging the under side of the supporting cable, between the points of engagement of said traverse Wheels, two traction line wheels mounted 1n operative relation to said traverse wheels, respectively, and a traction line forming a bight surrounding said two traction line wheels and in operative relation thereto.

In witness whereof-I hereby aflix my signature this 23rd day of January, 1922.

JOHN T. HORTON. 

